Moore and Wright are now both pitched into sudden-death contests in round two.

Stoyle, 22, also faced off against Moore last week at Margaret River and was delighted to turn the tables on the two-time world titleholder.

"She is such a good competitor and is the world champion for a reason, because she's so strong and smart in heats," said Stoyle, who had a winning two-wave total of 15.76 points to beat Moore (15.54) and local wildcard Zoe Clarke (5.57) in the highest-scoring heat of the day.

"I'm still in a bit of shock at beating her.

"I told myself before the heat that I didn't want to make any mistakes.

"In the last event at Margaret River I made one little mistake in a heat against her, I paddled for a wave and missed it and the next wave she got a nine and that would have been me.

"That's why I only got two waves today and made them good."

Van Dijk drew on the experience of earning a wildcard last year at Bells Beach to win her first heat of 2014 with a score of 14.84 in 2-3ft waves.

Wright was second with 10.94.

"Having that experience here is really important because they are just such hard waves to ride," said Van Dijk, from Phillip Island in Victoria.

"Everyone is trying to learn how to surf these waves because it's so difficult."

Australian Sally Fitzgibbons, who won successive titles at Bells in 2011-12, left it late before winning her opening-round heat against Hawaiians Coco Ho and Alana Blanchard.

"Every time I walk down these stairs I get goose bumps," said Fitzgibbons.

"You walk into the stadium here at Bells and it's like no other.

"Having that win here and then going back to back, you're always chasing that winning feeling."

Five-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore also won her first-round heat to advance straight to round three, as did American Courtney Conlogue and Bianca Buitendag from South Africa.

The second round of the women's competition is likely to take place on Thursday.